Former Sotheby's boss facing jail

Thursday 6 December 2001 00:00 BST

THE former chairman of Sotheby's has been convicted by a jury in New York of plotting a price-fixing deal with rival auction house Christie's. A. Alfred Taubman, 76, faces up to three years in prison for conspiring to rig the commissions paid by sellers of fine art.

Taubman had denied charges that he and former Christie's chairman Anthony Tennant stole as much £290m in commissions between 1993 and 1999. Tennant, 71, of Andover, Hampshire, has said he will not go to the US to face charges.

The prosecution's case centred on testimony by Diana Brooks, the former chief executive of Sotheby's, who pleaded guilty in October last year to price-fixing. She agreed to testify against Taubman in the hope of avoiding a three-year jail sentence. Brooks, 51, said the plot had been conceived during a 1993 meeting in London at which Taubman and Tennant agreed they 'were killing each other on the bottom line, and that it was time to do something about it'.

Brooks and her Christie's counterpart, Christopher Davidge, said their bosses had ordered them to end a costly rivalry by eliminating discounts and charging identical, non-negotiable commissions. Taubman had warned her to keep quiet about it, Brooks said. Sotheby's and Christie's control more than 90% of the world's art auctions.

The defence accused Brooks of hatching the price-fixing plot at a 1995 meeting with Davidge. Sotheby's executives said Taubman was so bored by finance he would doze off at board meetings. Defence attorney Robert Fiske told the jury: 'We agree that a crime was committed. The question is whether Mr Taubman had anything to do with that agreement.'

Prosecutor John Greene said Taubman had had both the means to carry out the scheme and the motive - Sotheby's profits plummeted in the late Eighties, from £300m in 1989 to less than £150m in 1992. Sotheby's admitted conspiracy and was fined $45m (£32.6m). Christie's was granted amnesty for its co-operation.